News

Midstate group among 9 sharing child abuse prevention grant money

(Harrisburg) -- A midstate educational organization is among nine groups statewide sharing a little more than one million dollars in grants to prevent child abuse.

The Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit will get $120,000 from the Pennsylvania Chilren's Trust Fund, which is dedicated to funding programs aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect.

The grants overseen by the state Department of Public Welfare are to be used for programs teaching young parents how to raise their kids in safe, attentive homes.

DPW spokeswoman Donna Kirker Morgan says the funding is aimed at preventing abuse before it starts.

"They will look at families and try to develop, especially with young parents, to teach them parenting skills, how to keep families together and better cooperation in that family unit, which is so critical when it comes to our children," Kirker Morgan says.

Money for the Children's Trust Fund comes from a ten-dollar surcharge on all marriage and divorce applications filed in the commonwealth.

It's awarded more than $33 million to 262 organizations statewide since it started in 1988.